Online education has been widely embraced at business schools in New Jersey. Chalk it up to one of those oft-referenced “new normal” marks left by the pandemic.
After a few years, however, it’s seemingly back to the old normal for students studying business in New Jersey from abroad.
One thing that went away with the end of the federal government’s COVID-19 emergency declaration was that international students on certain visas could no longer take a fully online courseload and remain in the U.S. That’s something local institutions courting students from abroad have had to reckon with.
Although it can be counted as only one of many reasons for the trend, Mary Kate Naatus of Seton Hall University said its Stillman School of Business is experiencing an in-person learning comeback today. In fact, the institution recently moved its MBA in business analytics program from fully online to hybrid with a significant in-person component.
Naatus, assistant provost and dean of continuing and professional education at Seton Hall, said that comes amid the university making a concerted effort to foster more of a global environment, especially in its business programs.
“One of the things in particular we’re looking to do is internationalize our campus and attract more international students to our graduate programs,” she said. “And, in order for these students to register and participate in these programs, they need to have the majority of their classwork in-person.”
Part of that in-person experience for business students, particularly at the bachelor’s degree level, entails what Naatus described as “transformative” travel opportunities to places such as India, Japan and the U.K.
“We’re trying to get more graduate students participating in study abroad as well, but it’s slightly more challenging — with many of them having full-time jobs or families,” she said. “When they do it, though, it really helps them make connections with students that goes deeper than usual interactions when you’re going to class and working on projects together.”
Predictably, it’s students with full-time jobs and families that continue to drive interest in online-first education experiences. Martin Gritsch, associate dean of William Paterson University’s Cotsakos College of Business, said they’ve seen in their enrollment numbers a sustained growth in the amount of business students interested in spending less time in physical settings.
“Especially for working adults, it really gives them flexibility to have courses run on an asynchronous basis, where they don’t have to log in at a particular time,” Gritsch said. “They can watch a presentation, do discussion posts as it fits their schedules.”
William Paterson has also introduced shorter seven-week course commitments to cater to those students, down from the usual 15-week timeline.
The bulk of their planning for a fully online business program was done ahead of the pandemic. After its timely 2020 rollout, Gritsch said the virtual learning environment that COVID-19’s spread introduced led to more students realizing education can be done in a quality way remotely.
“It can be an equivalent mode to delivering information as an on-campus experience,” he said. “And higher education institutions have gotten better over time at delivering that content.”
Gritsch indicated that William Paterson still wants to attract international students going forward, acknowledging that they can’t take the same advantage of all-online options. With the expectation that it would have a global pull, the school has applied for a STEM designation for its business analytics program.
Naatus explained that the Stillman School of Business has several MBA programs with that designation, including, also, in business analytics. The reason that’s sought after for these students is because they can apply for a two-year extension on how long they’re eligible to remain in the U.S. for post-graduation work if they’ve secured a science, technology, engineering or mathematics degree.
Seton Hall is looking at doing even more to appeal to global scholars. It’s putting together a proposal for a partnered MBA program with schools in France and Peru, offering students the ability to engage with those markets and travel between countries during their studies.
Naatus expects a future of countless benefits for business students venturing from abroad to the Garden State. And she expects local students to profit at the same time.
“It really enriches our campus to have students have exposure to students of many different backgrounds and cultures,” she said.
Dealing with doubts
From his post at an organization that represents about a dozen colleges in New Jersey, Steve Reynolds finds a lot to praise about the business programs at Seton Hall University and other local institutions, and what they’re doing to help professionals adorn their résumés and rise up the corporate ranks.
But, there’s something the CEO and president of the Independent Colleges and Universities of New Jersey said you wouldn’t find a lot of in the state: Training programs designed specifically for those that have already finished their climb to the C-suite ranks at corporations.
And, from his perspective, there’s nothing wrong with that.
“While you’re always going to have corporations and executives with training needs, it depends a lot on the state of the economy whether a company is going to be willing to spend the money to send a higher-level employee for additional training,” he said. “Our schools are always trying to skate where the puck is going, not where it is. But, from the standpoint of the economy and where we’re going to be in five to 10 years, I just don’t know if there’s a desire to expand and specialize in this post-graduate executive training niche.”
Introducing any new program at a school takes a hefty investment. And not every institution wants to take this particular gamble.
“I can’t speak for all the schools and whether they’ve considered this expansion, but every one of them is facing an ROI analysis,” he said. “What our I believe our schools understand is that what they provide and what they are known for are generally their four-year undergrad programs with a few graduate programs.”
Those graduate programs have a wider appeal than ones targeted just at executives. Even if Rutgers University and a few other regional entities do have programs marketed to executives, for most independent colleges, Reynolds expects the return on investment might not be there.
Based on his experience as a corporate executive for two decades himself, Reynolds explained that one of the issues is that companies tend to favor well-known programs at Ivy League colleges — especially Harvard, Columbia and Cornell universities — where the value in paying for an executive’s education might seem more obvious.
“When it comes to our schools, I think they really want to focus on what they do best instead of expanding to areas where others may have cornered the market,” he said.
What leaders at Kean University are taking pride in is their options for professionals in the working world who have some college credits, but perhaps haven’t finished their degree.
A representative for the college outlined how it’s helping these individuals by creating a streamlined path to finishing degrees at the institution using professional or military experience they already have, as well as credentials, certifications or other college-level learning they’ve done in the past.
Once that’s all factored in, learners can finish out the remaining portions of a degree through the Kean University Global Education and Resource Campus and the school’s online program.
